If you’re locked out of your Windows 10 PC and you try to unlock the BitLocker encrypted drive but you receive the error message The BitLocker encryption on this drive isn’t compatible with your version of Windows, then this post is intended to help you. In this post, we will provide the potential solutions you can try to remediate this issue.
When you encounter this issue, the following error message is displayed;
The BitLocker encryption on this drive isn’t compatible with your version of Windows. Try opening the drive using a newer version of Windows.
The BitLocker encryption on this drive isn’t compatible with your version of Windows
If you’re faced with this The BitLocker encryption on this drive isn’t compatible with your version of Windows issue, you can try our recommended solutions below in no particular order and see if that helps to resolve the issue.
- Check your Drive connection
- Update firmware and BIOS
- Try another Windows
Let’s take a look at the description of the process involved concerning each of the listed solutions.
1] Check your Drive connection
This solution requires you to open the PC ( you may need the services of a hardware technician) and re-set the SATA leads. Remove Bitlocker drive from the computer, then re-attach the drive on a different port.
If this solution fails to resolve the BitLocker encryption isn’t compatible issue, you can try the next solution.
2] Update firmware and BIOS
This solution requires you to try updating the BIOS and firmware on your Windows 10 computer and see if the BitLocker encryption isn’t compatible issue will be resolved. Else, continue with the next solution.
3] Try another Windows
If BitLocker drive is encrypted on Windows 7/8, this Bitlocker drive cannot be read on Windows 10 as Windows 10 uses XTS-AES encryption algorithms and old Windows uses AES encryption algorithms, you need to try it on another Windows 7/8 computer.
If BitLocker drive is encrypted on Windows 10 and chose New encryption mode, this BitLocker drive cannot read on Windows 7/8 as the new XTS-AES encryption algorithm is incompatible with old Windows version, you need to try it on another Windows 10 computer.
Any of these solutions hopefully should work for you.
However, if after you must have exhausted every other possible option and none of the solutions worked, you can use the BitLocker Repair Tool to access & recover data and files from the inaccessible BitLocker encrypted drive and then reinstall Windows 10.